There were calls about animals, complaints about a man urinating against a school wall, and a report of man smoking on an incoming flight to Manchester Airport.

Dozens of false alarms

There were dozens of false alarms. In one incident, officers were sent to a bridge where a man was reportedly seen dangling a baby over the edge.

In fact, he'd been carrying his dog in his arms because the animal was afraid of bridges.

The Twitter feed was choked with children who had dialled police while playing with their parents' mobile phones.

There were also a host of nuisance calls.

"Confused man reporting his TV not working," one incident report stated. "Man calls to say locked out of house. Wants police to break in for him," another said. One woman called police because a video of her had been posted to YouTube.

The project is due to run until 5 a.m. local time Friday (midnight ET).